Picture: The acting North West Premier, Nono Maloyi/Supplied
By OBAKENG MAJE
The acting North West Premier, Nono Maloyi said they are concerned about the high rate of unemployment in the province. North West is sitting at 53%, which makes it one of the most affected provinces in the country.
However, Maloyi said they are working with all relevant stakeholders and considering options that can assist in mitigating this scourge. He further said the Provincial Executive Council (EXCO) held its meeting in Klerksdorp recently and reflected on a number of pertinent issues on the environment.
“The Executive Council noted that the North West Premier, Bushy Maape was still recovering from home and wished him a speedy recovery as the province needed a full complement of the EXCO. The South African government is from the BRICS Summit and decisions taken there are crucial both for the province and the country.
“In this instance, we had a session with potential investors and discussed possibilities of investing in the province. There was positive feedback from investors who expressed willingness to invest in the province,” said Maloyi.
He added that, to this end, the province will host a dinner session with investors on 15 September 2023 to take forward the conversation on how they can invest in the province. Maloyi said some of the investors have already expressed interest in investing in roads and agriculture in the province.
“The EXCO further noted that as the women’s month is coming to an end, issues of Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBV&F) remain sore points that require to be tackled head-on. We are to accelerate efforts to confront this pandemic.
“The EXCO commended the province for a recently held Provincial Women’s Day event, which took place in the JB Marks Local Municipality and was attended by thousands of women,” said Maloyi.
He said the EXCO reiterated its determination to resolve service delivery challenges that confront communities in various parts of the province, most of which are to be tackled through the Accelerated Service Delivery initiative, Thuntsha Lerole, which was launched recently in Mamusa Local Municipality.
He said the challenges of veld fires that have been ravaging various parts of the province and which have affected the agricultural sector adversely, also came under the spotlight.
“The EXCO commended the North West MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Desbo Mohono for her pro-activeness in visiting affected areas to understand the extent of the damage. The EXCO also decries the unfortunate incident of the burning of the Pilanesberg Airport to ashes.
“This happened at a time when some Chinese investors have shown interest in investing in the airport to revamp it. The EXCO further resolved that the unfortunate incident of sewage spillage in Mahikeng, which affected the community of Seweding and Ramosadi, needed to be given more attention,” said Maloyi.
According to Maloyi, a mobile clinic has been stationed in the area to mitigate the situation.
“In a meeting I had with Ngaka Modiri Molema District and Mahikeng Local Municipality Executive Mayors recently, I directed that Ngaka Modiri Molema should intervene urgently.
“The Development Bank of Southern Africa was also convened to establish how it could assist on the challenges of infrastructure in the area to provide a permanent solution to the sewage spillage challenge,” he said.
Maloyi said on the contractors who were awarded tenders and failed to deliver on their contractual obligations, the EXCO resolved that such contractors should be blacklisted. He said the EXCO received a report on the term 1 Grade 1 to 12 results and expressed satisfaction that learner performance in all these grades had improved compared to the same term last year.
“To this end, the EXCO resolved that members should each adopt an underperforming school as part of the many other efforts to intervene in a quest to improve learner performance in the province,” said Maloyi.
The Guardian 